Four men have been charged in connection with a shooting outside a home on Ward Street in Whiteville, Columbus County, on Wednesday, November 11, according to arrest warrants reported by WECT. The warrants allege that shots were fired at and from the home in the 400 block of Ward Street, and that two people were inside the house when a handgun was fired into it, WWAY reported, citing the same court records. All four men are being held without bond, and all four were appointed public defenders at their first court appearances on Thursday, November 12, WECT said. The charges are allegations: every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Source: WECT

What the warrants allege

According to the arrest warrants, Gevin Scott Meshaw, 18, and Jaquan Davion Willis, 19, allegedly fired at Anthony Vining, who was at the home on Ward Street. Vining is accused of firing back at Meshaw and at Casey Latrail Wilder, WECT reported. WWAY's account of the court records focuses on Meshaw: it says he allegedly fired a handgun into the occupied home in the 400 block of Ward Street on November 11, with two people inside, and is also accused of assaulting one person with a firearm with intent to kill. The court records cited by WWAY do not indicate whether anyone was injured, and neither station reported any confirmed injury from the shooting.

Meshaw, of White Oak, was arrested on Wednesday, November 11. His warrant was issued at about 8:45 p.m. that evening and was returned as served shortly after 10 p.m., WWAY reported. He appeared in court on Thursday, November 12, when a public defender was appointed for him.

The charges, man by man

Meshaw and Willis are each charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, discharging a firearm within the city, and discharging a weapon into occupied property, according to WECT. Vining is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of discharging a firearm in the city. Wilder is charged with felony aiding and abetting. Discharging a firearm into an occupied home is treated as a felony under North Carolina law, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill is among the state's more serious assault charges — but a charge is an accusation, not a finding, and the warrants describe what investigators allege happened, not what a court has decided.

Background: an occupied-home shooting in a small Columbus County city

Whiteville is the county seat of Columbus County in southeastern North Carolina, a small city where Ward Street is a residential neighbourhood of single-family homes. Firing into an occupied dwelling is charged heavily in North Carolina precisely because the people inside — here, according to the warrants, two occupants who are not accused of firing anything — have no warning and nowhere to go. That is also why three of the four defendants face the occupied-property count on top of the assault counts, and why all four were held without bond after their first appearances rather than released.

What happens next: Meshaw's probable-cause hearing is set for December 3 at 9 a.m. in Columbus County District Court, WWAY reported, and the other defendants are expected to move through the same district-court process, where a judge will decide whether the cases go forward to superior court. Police have not released a motive, and investigators have not said publicly what led up to the shooting on Ward Street. Anyone with information about the November 11 shooting is typically directed to the Whiteville Police Department as the investigation continues.